


Flower

by Guenevere



Series: The Bloom of the Plum Flower [2]
Category: Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, Naruto
Genre: (Mainly) POV Shinki, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Domestic Fluff, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Family Fluff, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Kazekage Gaara (Naruto), POV Shinki, Pregnancy, Romantic Fluff, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-21
Updated: 2021-01-21
Packaged: 2021-03-13 02:56:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28896240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Guenevere/pseuds/Guenevere
Summary: Inspired by the trivia section of Shinki’s page in the wikia, my own box of embroidery tools and Gaara’s birthday.During a walk in the village with his mother to fetch the last thread that he needs to complete his present for his father’s birthday, Shinki assists to an unpleasant encounter.
Relationships: Gaara & Shinki (Naruto), Gaara (Naruto)/Original Character(s), Gaara (Naruto)/Original Female Character(s), Gaara (Naruto)/Reader, Shinki (Naruto) & Original Character(s), Shinki (Naruto) & Original Female Character(s)
Series: The Bloom of the Plum Flower [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2119191
Comments: 6
Kudos: 34





	Flower

**Author's Note:**

> Could I, a cross stitch enthusiast, not write something about Shinki’s embroidery hobby? ABSOLUTELY NOT. And I have been trying to write this for MONTHS, but I could never find a satisfying incipit, so I kept procrastinating. Two days ago, hearing of Gaara’s birthday made me realise how I wanted this story to start and (despite the fact that I have an exam in a week, ugh!) I rushed it, I literally wrote this in two evenings plus the time to edit it. Ironically, this is the story I have written in the shortest time in literal years and it’s the longest of the ones that I posted. Gosh, I’m not nervous at all :)))

January the 19th.

It was father's birthday and Shinki had been preparing for this day for several weeks, tirelessly working on his gift during whatever spare time he had while Gaara was absent. Said gift was practically finished and the child brought it to the kitchen, where mother was making preparations for a special dinner with all of father’s favourite foods.

"Mother, do you like it?" 

Fujimi turned around and wiped her hands on her apron before taking the piece of fabric that her son was handing her.

Since he had seen her embroidering a bedsheet for her incoming baby, Shinki had shown an interest in embroidery. He was fascinated by the steady work of mother's hands that with just some coloured threads could create such pretty things. In particular, he liked the box where she kept her embroidery tools. It was a wooden box with flower motifs carved on the lid and he liked all the coloured skeins (as mother had told him the small thread bundles were named) in it, it was as if he was looking at a small, messy rainbow.

After observing her for a while, he had found the courage to quietly express his will to try embroidering something himself. While surprised, Fujimi had indulged him and she had patiently taught him how to embroidery in stem stitch, even though she thought that he would soon grow bored of it. What she didn't expect was for him to develop a real passion for the activity. Shinki found embroidery oddly relaxing and he loved how it gave him the occasion to sit with mother in the shade of the courtyard, each working on their own needlework. Not mentioning how proud he felt whenever she praised him for his good work.

Gaara's birthday had given Shinki the occasion to gift his father with something he made by himself, once mother had reassured him that father would love to receive something like that. So he had worked with dedication, doing and undoing his creation whenever he wasn't satisfied with it, and now, while mother inspected his work, he felt very nervous.

Fujimi glanced at the square of white fabric that she had hemmed to become a handkerchief. On one of the corners, with threads of three different shades of green, Shinki had embroidered a cactus. It looked a little clumsily made and more squared than a cactus should normally look, but it was evident that it was done with love and effort. Besides, for it being a child's first real work done without any help, it was very satisfactory. 

Fujimi smiled. 

“It's perfect, honey. I'm sure that your father will love it.” 

He shyly grinned, satisfied at his mother’s praise. 

“I would have liked to put a flower on top of it, like the ones that sprout on the cacti that father grows.”

Mother nodded. 

“It’s a wonderful idea. Why didn’t you make it?” 

He took a few moments to answer, as if he was unsure if he should bring the subject up.

“Because… I couldn’t find any yellow thread.”

He knew that there was nothing to be worried or ashamed of, but as well as he knew that mother would want to give him whatever he wanted, he also didn’t wish to bother her while she was obviously so busy.

“Oh, I must have used it all with that bedsheet I made for the baby. This won’t do. We must go and buy some, then.” 

Just as Shinki had feared. 

“Mother, it doesn’t matter…” 

She looked incredulously at him. 

“Of course it does! If you want to put a flower on that cactus, then you will put a flower on that cactus.” 

“But… you are busy preparing dinner…” 

She snorted.

“So what? It won’t take that long to go buy a skein of thread. Our dinner won’t be spoiled if I leave for a little while. Besides, I really need to stretch my legs, so a walk will do me some good. Now, please, be a darling and go fetch my veil and circlet.” 

Not daring to retort, Shinki did as he was told and in a few minutes they were walking hand in hand along the narrow alley leading to the centre of the village. 

Raising his eyes, Shinki could see the fast shadows of the shinobi watching over mother from their positions on the nearby roofs.

Father had appointed two shinobi to monitor her and her safety when he couldn’t do so himself. They were a discreet presence and one could barely say that they were following them, but their being there meant that mother could move as she wanted while never fearing for her and her baby’s safety. 

When they arrived at the village centre, mother guided Shinki to a small shop that had a sign with a needle and a thread spool painted with bright colours above its door. The old lady behind the counter smiled kindly at him when mother explained that he needed some thread for an embroidery. 

“How singular, for a young man like you to enjoy a good needlework! What are you embroidering?”

Shinki still felt a little uneasy when strangers spoke to him, but the lady’s gentle expression and mother’s hand resting reassuringly on his shoulder gave him courage.

“A handkerchief… with a cactus… for my father’s birthday.” 

The lady looked elated. 

“How wonderful! I’m sure that your father will be delighted. So you need some green thread?”

The child shook his head.

“Yellow thread… to make a flower.” 

The lady nodded.

“Oh, of course. Your cactus will surely look prettier with a flower. Well, come here, young man, let me show you what I have.”

Shinki was showed an array of threads with different shades of yellow. There were so many that he liked and he asked mother to advise him on which would be better. In the end he was unsure between a bright canary yellow and a softer honey-coloured thread. Seeing his indecisiveness, mother bought him both. With a shy grin he accepted the small paper bag that the old lady handed him and waved at her when she bid him farewell wishing him to keep up the good work. 

“If you use both threads, your flower will be even lovelier.” said mother while they exited the shop. Shinki nodded and grasped proudly on his paper bag.

“Hey Fujimi! Shinki”

Shinki turned around and found uncle Kankurō approaching them.

“Hi Kankurō.” greeted Fujimi with a smile.

“Are you two taking a walk?”

“Yes, Shinki needed something to finish his birthday present for Gaara and we took the opportunity to go for a little stroll. Are you?”

Kankurō snorted.

“Not really. I’m just escorting some councilmen, we are coming back from an inspection.”

Shinki only then noticed that uncle Kankurō was followed by two old men and one old lady. One of the men had a long beard that reached down to his waist, the other had no beard but his eyebrows were incredibly bushy. What they all had in common were their gazes, which were cold and stern.

Shinki instinctively squeezed mother’s hand and stepped a little closer to her.

Fujimi greeted the councilmen with a polite nod of her head. Anyway, they didn’t seem so keen to maintain the polite tones.

“You are really enjoying your freedom since lord Kazekage put two bodyguards following you.” said the old lady.

Shinki felt mother’s hand twitch a little but her smile didn’t falter.

“I am. My husband wanted me to have someone watching over me when he can’t do so personally. I feel more secure and he feels calmer knowing that I am always safe.”

The man with the bushy eyebrows scoffed.

“I thought that leaving you with that child would have been enough, since lord Kazekage is going to the trouble of training him personally.” 

Shinki involuntarily flinched when he heard that they were talking about him.   
Was he bothering father with his training? He knew that father was always very busy, maybe it really bothered father to train him but never said anything not to upset him. And maybe he really should have been protecting mother himself but instead father had to ask the two shinobi because he wasn’t good enough. He stopped his musing when he felt mother’s hand squeeze his and he raised his eyes to look at her face. Her smile had fallen completely.

“What do you mean? Shinki is our son, not our bodyguard.”

The old lady made a sneer, as if mother had said something funny. Shinki felt very uneasy.

“He may not be your bodyguard, but he certainly isn’t your son, either.”

Fujimi insisted.

“We adopted him, Gaara is training him because he wants to, because we know that he is worth it. He is our son.”

“No, he isn’t. Because you didn’t give birth to him.”

Shinki vaguely heard uncle Kankurō protest, but he wasn’t listening anymore. He felt as if something heavy had settled in his belly and it made him feel sick.

Fujimi was stunned and she could barely control her anger.

“This… this doesn’t mean anything. We adopted…”

The man with the long beard interrupted her.

“We tolerated your union with lord Kazekage despite your non-existent political significance because he was in pressing need of a bride, trusting that you would at least give him children. But since you even failed to give him an heir, your value is essentially null. He shouldn’t be wasting two of our valuable shinobi to protect you and we made sure to tell him so when he informed us of his decision.” 

Since Fujimi’s pregnancy was kept as a secret, of course they still thought that she wasn’t going to have any children. Her belly had barely started to show and Shinki knew that his parents didn’t want many people to know about their incoming baby for as long as possible because it was safer, but he was extremely tempted to just scream in the face of those mean people mistreating his mother that she _was_ going to have a baby and that they had no right to talk to her that way. Whatever his farfetched idea was, it was all forgotten when the old lady spoke next.

“Perhaps it would have been better for everyone if that assassin hadn’t failed to poison you.”

Shinki was shocked. What were they talking about? What was this about poison and an assassin? Had they just suggested that mother could have died? Or worse, that she _should_ have died?

He tightly clutched the paper bag in his hand and he felt his other hand shiver, only to realize that it was mother’s hand the one trembling.

“Hey, enough! You have gone too far!” protested uncle Kankurō.

“Forget it, Kankurō.”

Mother’s voice was steady but her hands were shaking. Shinki squeezed her hand to try and reassure her and she squeezed it back before saying:

“It’s not worth it. Come on, Shinki. Let’s go home.”

He felt grateful when mother pulled him away from there, from uncle Kankurō’s agitation and from those people’s mean gazes.

They walked swiftly for a few minutes, but when they reached a silent alley, mother stopped and leaned against a wall.

“Do you mind if we stop for just a moment, honey? I need to regain my breath.”

Shinki nodded and silently waited while mother rested a little.

He thought about how happy he had been while choosing his yellow thread, how kind the old lady from the shop had spoken to him and how it had all been spoiled by what those nasty, angry people had said.

Suddenly, mother let go of his hand to embrace him.

“I’m so sorry, honey. I never wanted you to hear something like that.”

Shinki clung to her. The small paper bag in his hand suddenly felt a little heavier.

“It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have asked you to buy new thread.”

Mother made him raise his face to look at her.

“Don’t even think about it. Nothing of what happened is your fault.”

A part of him knew that she was right, but he still felt a little guilty.

“They said bad things about you.”

“Oh, I don’t really care what they say about me. But I couldn’t let them speak ill of you.”

Shinki couldn’t understand.

“Why? Isn’t it the same if they say bad things about you?” 

Mother shrugged.

“It’s different. I am used to it.”

This hurt Shinki. Mother was kind and caring and he felt that no one had the right to say mean things about her. Besides, he knew that what those old people had told had really hurt her, even if he couldn’t understand everything they had said.

While they resumed their walk towards home, he dared to ask:

“Mother, what did they mean when they said that an assassin poisoned you?”

Again, mother’s hand trembled in his, but she tried to hide it with a little squeeze.

“It’s nothing, honey. They just wanted to be cruel, is all.”

But Shinki knew that it wasn’t nothing and, when they arrived home, he followed her in the kitchen and insisted.

“Please, mother. I want to know.”

She wore her apron with a shaky sigh.

“Alright, then.”

She went back to preparing dinner while she spoke. Shinki sat at the kitchen table and listened attentively.

“I already told you that when your father announced that he was going to marry me, many people weren’t happy about it. The three that we met today were some of those. Since they couldn’t accept that the Kazekage would marry a civilian and they couldn’t make him change his mind, some of them took things into their own hands. A few members of the council hired an assassin who kidnapped me and poisoned me.”

Shinki was horrified. So mother really could have died just because some people didn’t want her to marry father?

“They saved me just in time, but the poison had weakened me very much. Healing me took many days and it was really painful. I recovered, but the councilmen almost got what they wanted, since your father was going to call off the wedding.”

“Father didn’t want to marry you anymore?” asked Shinki, incredulously.

“It’s not that he didn’t want to, but he was afraid that by staying with him I would get hurt. He felt guilty since I had almost been killed just because I was engaged to him.”

Shinki could understand that reasoning. He had also felt guilty thinking that mother had to bear listening to those mean people telling bad things about her because they were out to buy something that he asked for.

“It took some convincing, but in the end he changed his mind and we married. He found out who the councilmen who had hired the assassin were and he removed them, but it was clear that, even among those who weren’t involved, the majority of the council didn’t approve of our union.”

She stopped cooking and turned around to smile sadly at him.

“I guess that is why I’m used to them telling me bad things. They never tried to hide that they don’t like me.”

Shinki raised from his seat and approached mother, embracing her at the waist.

“ _I_ like you. And I’m glad that you didn’t die and that father married you.”

Moved by his words, Fujimi crouched and held him, kissing his cheeks and making him giggle elatedly at the attentions.

“I love you so much, honey. I’m so lucky to have you.”

They held each other for a while, basking in the reciprocal affection.

When they separated, they looked at the time and realized that they didn’t have much time to finish preparations for Gaara’s birthday. So, while Fujimi got back to work on preparing dinner, Shinki went to his room to finish his embroidery. The previous evening, father had told that he would come back earlier than usual to spend more time with them. So, even though embroidering a single flower shouldn’t have taken him long, Shinki wasn’t sure if he would manage to finish it before father came home and he didn’t want to take the risk of father seeing his present before it was complete.

This turned out to be the right decision because, while the child was still struggling with thread and needle, Gaara came home to find his wife working diligently in the kitchen.

“I’m back.”

When she heard him, Fujimi left what she was doing to wipe her hands on her apron and go to kiss him.

“Welcome back. And happy birthday.”

He had gone out very early in the morning to be able to come back sooner that evening, so when he had left, both her and Shinki were still asleep and couldn’t wish him a happy birthday.

Gaara smiled and held her gently, returning her kiss.

“Thank you. Where is Shinki?” he asked when she went back to work on the last touches on their dinner and he noticed that their son was nowhere to be seen.

“In his room, he is finishing your birthday present.”

Gaara couldn’t hide his surprise.

“A present?”

“Of course. You’ll see, he has worked really hard on it.”

They shared a smile.

“I can’t wait, then.”

They spent a few minutes talking about idle things about their day, Fujimi carefully avoiding telling him about what transpired that afternoon in the village. However, when he understood that she would tell him nothing, Gaara himself addressed the subject.

“Kankurō told me what happened today. With the councilmen.”

Fujimi sighed while she put the last dish on the table.

“I knew he would have told you, but I really wish he had not. Not today, at least.”

Gaara frowned.

“I hoped that you would tell me. You know I don’t like it when you hide these things from me.”

She removed her apron, folded it neatly and put it on the chair back before smiling sadly at him.

“I would have told you. Really. But not today, I didn’t want to spoil your birthday.”

He shook his head.

“You haven’t spoiled anything. I just want to know when these things happen, so I can do something about them.”

Fujimi sighed again and hugged herself.

“It was my fault, I shouldn’t have let them provoke me. I didn’t care much when it was about me, I know what they think about me. But then they brought Shinki into it and I couldn’t be quiet anymore.”

Gaara took her in his arms and kissed her temple. She went on:

“They even mentioned when I was poisoned by that assassin, before we got married. And of course Shinki wanted me to tell him what that was about, after he had to listen to all that nonsense about him not being our son. He was so upset by the whole thing, my poor child. I never wanted him to hear any of that. If only I had stayed quiet.”

She hid her face against her husband’s shoulder and he held her gently.

“It’s not your fault, they shouldn’t have said those things.”

After a while, he whispered:

“Sometimes I feel like our marriage only brought you sorrow.”

Fujimi raised her gaze and shook her head.

“It’s not like that and you know it. I love you and I am happy with you. I can bear some spite for your sake.”

Gaara sighed.

“You shouldn’t bear anything like that. I’m going to speak to the council tomorrow.”

She grasped the fabric of his tunic.

“Please, don’t! They will never change their mind about me, anyway, and I don’t want you to have any more troubles because of me.”

Gaara scowled.

“They can’t say whatever they want about my wife and child and just get away with it. I won’t let them. I already told Kankurō and Baki about it and they agreed with me.”

Seeing that Fujimi still seemed troubled, he put a hand under her chin and made her look at him.

“Please, smile. It will be all right.”

Finally, the corners of her lips quirked upwards in a timid grin.

“You are right.”

He brought a hand to her stomach.

“You’ll see. Soon enough we will let everyone know that we are going to have a baby and that will show them.”

She nodded and they kissed passionately.

“I’m going to see if Shinki is ready to come down.” said Fujimi when they separated.

“Should I come with you?”

“No can do. I don’t want the surprise he has worked so much on to be spoiled. You wait here.”

He nodded and sat at the kitchen table to wait, while Fujimi went upstairs to look for Shinki.

“Shinki, how is it going?” she asked when she found him deep at work in his room.

He finished securing the thread with a small knot as mother had shown him and cut the thread in excess, before turning the handkerchief and looking at the result of his work.

“I think I’m done.”

He handed mother the finished handkerchief and she inspected it. On top of the squared cactus he had embroidered an indented, odd shaped flower. He had used both of the new yellow threads and this gave the flower some kind of depth and movement.

Fujimi handed him back the handkerchief and smiled.

“It’s beautiful.”

“Really?” asked Shinki with a hint of nervousness but also a tinge of pride at being praised.

“Yes, really.”

She offered him her hand to take.

“Let’s go give it to your father. He is curious to see your birthday present.”

This made Shinki feel a little nervous, the fact that father had some expectation about his gift. What if he didn’t like it? What if he was disappointed? What if his present wasn’t really that good as mother told him?

When they arrived in the kitchen, father raised from his seat at the table to greet Shinki.

“Hello, Shinki.”

“Hello, father. Happy birthday.”

“Thank you.” Father patted him on the head.

Mother gently nudged him and when he raised his gaze to look at her, she nodded signalling him to give his gift to father.

Shinki took a deep breath.

“Father… I made a present for you.”

Keeping his gaze lowered, he reached out the handkerchief towards father.

Gaara took the fabric square and spread it out to look at it. His eyes widened when he spotted the embroidered cactus.

“You made this?”

Shinki nodded and Fujimi explained:

“He has been working on it for weeks. And he has made it all by himself, I never helped him.”

Gaara kept staring at the slightly crumpled fabric and at the clumsy embroidery.

“Do you like it?” prompted mother and Shinki, who would never dare to ask, was grateful to her.

Father raised his eyes from his gift. Did he look emotional?

“I like it. Of course I like it. I like it very much.”

He crouched and opened his arms motioning to Shinki to embrace him.

“Thank you for making it for me. I will treasure it.”

Shinki was so happy that he could cry. He returned father’s heartfelt hug and basked in the affectionate gesture.

Gaara raised and went to kiss Fujimi.

“Thank you.”

Confused, she giggled.

“For what? I didn’t do anything.”

He didn’t answer, but the smile he showed her spoke volumes.

The three spent the rest of the evening together, eating the delicious dinner prepared by Fujimi and just enjoying the time spent as a family.

What had happened that afternoon in the village still left a dark shadow of unease on Shinki, but mother’s gentle smile and father’s tender gaze whenever he looked at his birthday gift helped disperse a part of his negative thoughts. He was happy with his newfound parents, happier than he ever believed he could be, and he felt loved. He knew that it would always hurt when people said mean things about them, but as long as mother kept smiling that way and father kept patting his head when he came home, then it would be all right.

Gaara would often take Shinki’s handkerchief from his pocket and look fondly at the clumsy but lovingly made embroidery. He thought back to when he found Shinki in the outskirts of the village, a scared child acting as a wounded animal. Looking at him now, staring up happily at Fujimi while she showed him the umeboshi jar, and looking back at the gift he had worked so hard on, Gaara had never been so sure in his life that it had all been worth it.

**Author's Note:**

> I had to do a little research on embroidery vocabulary because there was a lot I didn’t know. Even though I mainly do cross stitch, I chose to have Shinki do stem stitch (which at first I had written as “grass stitch” because that’s the literal translation of how you call it in my native language… the more you know) because I believe that it would be a more versatile kind of stitch for a beginner, since cross stitch usually needs a pattern to follow, careful counting and, unless you are really skilled and able to make perfect stitches, a specific kind of fabric.  
> As you can see, Plum and Flower are now part of a series which will consist of three one-shots. I really hope that it won’t take that long to write the last one, but please be patient, I still have two exams and a thesis to write :’D  
> I haven’t told much about the story of the assassin who tried to poison Fujimi because I hope that I’ll be able to write it in more detail in another story.  
> I really hope that you enjoyed this story, thank you so much for reading it. I would be glad to know what you think of it :)


End file.
